Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Review: Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels #4) by Ilona Andrews

*Please note that it is very hard to review books past the first one in the series without having any spoilers at all. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as I can, but if you haven't read the first book in this series, you may just want to read that review instead of continuing with this one.

Goodreads Summary
Kate Daniels keeps the peace in Atlanta for the Order, humans caught between the vampire controlling People led by her biological father and best kept secret, Roland, and the shape-shifter Pack, led by her mate-to-be Curran, the Lord of the Beasts. But her look-alike aunt Erra, Babylon's god of chaos and terror, has come to town controlling seven naked warriors: Deluge (flood water), Tremor (earth quake), Gale (hurricane wind), Torch (fire inferno), Venom (disease poison), Beast (animal monster), and Darkness (overpowering dread).

"Whatever, Your Furriness"

The beginning of this one was a little different since they normally start with Kate on some sort of mission or errand. This time apparently her heart is cracking into pieces. There are some factions of the shifters that don't approve of Kate and they cause quite the upheaval throughout the book. What I love about a heart-broken Kate is that she resorts to name-calling in her head and surprises me by being the responsible party.

Three weeks later I see her back on a crazy assignment that hits very close to home. While on this assignment, she finds the next awesome character addition to the series, Grendel the attack poodle.

The Good

I think there may be too many good things to list them all.

First, Magic Bleeds is highly centralized on Kate and Curran and I can't get enough of that. While they may be arguing in the first half of it like they do best, I love Kate's internal dialogue in the middle of the arguments.

I stared at the ceiling and growled."Cute," Curran said.Die. "Why don't you come over here and I'll show you cute?""I'd love to, but he's in the way. Besides, you had your chance to show me anything you wanted to. You'd just run away again."For the love of God.
Just the words "Die" and "For the love of God" had me giggling up a storm. She does this often in the middle of their back-and-forths.

Then, even though they are arguing, Curran can't help being protective of Kate while at the same time letting her stand on her own two feet. This shows such an excellent understanding on his part for who she is. Kate is as much of an Alpha as Curran is in my opinion. While he may slide in to caveman mode in one sentence, in the next, he was trying to be a gentleman. It was pretty funny watching him battle his nature and also trying to be the man that she deserves.

The big bad in Magic Bleeds is really scary. The assignment that she's on is so important that is had my heart pounding. There are some characters incredibly hurt and others that don't make it in this book. It was an adventurous read for sure. Also, it foreshadowed an even bigger baddie on the horizon so that's something to look forward to in future books.

Yes there are even more good things, but I could be here all day listing them all.

The Bad

Yeah - no.

The Romance

I adore their romance. No other couple has me laughing almost every time they have a conversation. As Kate says, he is a control freak and she hates authority so it should work, right? Well, I do know that the romance level went right off the map this time around. So great!!! It was worth the wait. I just hope all the future books are just as good.

Conclusion

So what makes this a 6 star book over the others so far in this series? More Curran, more Kate, and more romance = more sexy, more snarky, and more yummy. My advice is to read this series!! You are incredibly missing out if you haven't.

Excerpts

"Do you honestly think your toothpick can hurt me?""Let's find out.""Thank you for killing my suspect before I could talk to him.""Don't mention it.""Big mistake, Your Majesty. You want me to act like a shapeshifter? Fine, I can do that.""That's right. Come let me kiss you with my fist, baby.""He bared his teeth in a happy feral grin. My own personal psycho."

11 comments:

ATTACK POODLE!!!!! I swear, only Andrews can make us crack up with just the world Die!!! The dialogue is so freaking badass. And more Curran and Kate is always a good time. So worth the wait. I get so excited every time you write your reviews for this series. It's hard to get people to read this series because of the crappy covers.

I'm soooooo glad you added them!! I know that you will love it especially since you are enjoying The Hollows. Kate and Curran have a similar relationship feel to Adam and Mercy but even better! I really hope you enjoy once you get to read.

I really enjoy those little happy surprises on the character additions. Love the dialogue!! I'm so glad you are enjoying the reviews :D I keep seeing people add the series to their to-read list and that makes me thrilled. This is such a fantastic series! You know how in love with it I am.

Wow, 6 stars! It must be really good! "I love Kate's internal dialogue in the middle of the arguments." Internal dialogue is funny, I read some in the book I just finished. It is very real, well, I do that sometimes, think something (not necessarily bad lol) and say something else.

Absolutely! It makes the situation more real and that's why it is such a giggle fest because most of the time no one hears those crazy little tidbits that never make it to your mouth. I really enjoy those moments for sure! Thank you so much for stopping by :D

LOL!!! Another fabulous review - including the hilarity that is Ilona Andrews! See, I told you they keep getting better. :) I love how the Andrews' weave the dark in with the light. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that you're enjoying this series so much. Thanks for refreshing my memory of this book and giving me some giggles for my afternoon as well. Kate's internal dialog is highly entertaining and I love the quotes you included. Oh, do you know about the pieces from Curran's POV? They're on their website. It's great to read scenes from the books from Curran's perspective. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Jaclyn! Glad it rocked your socks off!! ;)

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